FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT VLADIMIR PUTIN - PAGE 3

Russia's overwhelmingly pro-Kremlin parliament approved Vladimir Putin's nominee for prime minister Friday, setting the stage for a new Cabinet to take over as the president heads into a virtually assured second term later this month. Lawmakers in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, voted overwhelmingly to confirm Mikhail Fradkov for the No. 2 post in the nation. Putin nominated Fradkov, 53, on Monday, a week after stunning the nation by firing longtime Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov less than a month before the March 14 presidential election.

MOSCOW, June 4 (Reuters) - Russian former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's jailing was not politically motivated, Vladimir Putin said on Monday in response to criticism over his human rights record at his first summit with EU leaders since returning to the presidency on May 7. Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was arrested in 2003 after falling foul of the Kremlin. His oil company was brought to its knees by back tax claims and its main assets were sold off by the state.

MOSCOW, May 7 (Reuters) - Moscow will seek closer ties with the United States but will not tolerate interference in its affairs and wants "firm guarantees" a U.S. missile shield is not aimed against Russia, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Putin set out foreign policy priorities in a wide-ranging decree signed hours after his inauguration to a six-year term as president. Russia wants to bring cooperation with Washington "to a truly strategic level" but relations must be based on "equality, non-interference in internal affairs and respect for one another's interests", and mutual respect, the decree said.

U.S. officials have told Russia to reduce the number of spies operating in the United States or face a reduction in diplomatic positions or expulsions, The Washington Times reported on Monday. The CIA and the State Department had no comment on the newspaper report. The newspaper, citing unnamed Clinton administration officials, said U.S. Ambassador James Collins told Russia's Security Council adviser, Vladimir Putin, several weeks ago that Russia voluntarily should cut back the number of spies in the U.S. The newspaper said the issue was raised by White House National Security Adviser Samuel "Sandy" Berger during a telephone call with Putin in June.

MOSCOW, April 12 (Reuters) - Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin on Thursday outlined proposed new rules for development of vast offshore oil and gas resources, offering some tax breaks for the far-flung projects. Putin offered to cancel export duties on oil and gas from new offshore deposits and proposed to introduce a lower mineral extraction tax for complex hydrocarbon projects in the Arctic. He pledged that the new rules will be in effect for at least 15 years from the start of industrial output and offered Russian non-state companies access to the offshore oil and gas.

Ukraine's new president played down concerns over tensions with Moscow on Saturday, saying he can work with Vladimir Putin despite the Russian leader's strong preference for the defeated Ukrainian presidential candidate. Viktor Yushchenko said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he did not believe that Putin would oppose Ukraine moving closer to the West. Yushchenko last week called on the European Union to commit by 2007 to membership talks and said he would push through democratic reforms to aid Ukraine's bid to join the bloc.